3 Reasons to bring in outside help with your Rugged Product requirements

As the visionary for your company, everyone is counting on you to execute new product ideas. You probably have an excellent in-house team of designers and/or engineers with deep knowledge of your product line. Should you consider bringing in outside help – here’s 3 reasons why you should.

Your team is busy fighting fires. We see it all the time, issues that come up with products that are in production take priority over new product development. It’s hard not too. Problems with existing production stop the line, delay delivery schedules and hurt cash flow. While the team is busy with current production priorities it’s hard to meet your goals for new product innovation. An outside design firm is insulated from these issues and helps focus the organization on future objectives.

You don’t have industrial design in-house and your engineers are just fine without them. Many companies developing rugged products feel that they can do without industrial designers. However, at the same time, they often short-cut or side-step design research, ergonomics, user interface concerns or a visual presentation that’s aligned with the market. They convince themselves that those things aren’t important for customers in the rugged space. The reality is that design plays a critical role in product development and adoption. Rugged products not only need to be dependable and easy to use, the look and feel of the design are key factors for buyers. Having an industrial designer on the team helps insure that your product stands out from the competition.

The in-house team doesn’t have experience with designing and fielding rugged products. Designing rugged products requires specialized expertise and not all product designers have that experience. Sealing and protection from drop and shock are first among many challenges presented by high-use or harsh environments. A rugged design team has experienced these challenges on many projects and can draw on a proven toolbox of methods, materials and resources to speed development and reduce risk.

As more products become mobile there’s a growing need for product design that can survive drops, spills and dunks under water as well as outdoor temperatures. Criteria that was once considered specialized is now commonplace. Look carefully for a rugged product design partner and make a statement in your market.

JUGGERNAUT DESIGN is an authority in rugged design, bringing innovation and expertise to products that must survive challenging environments across commercial and defense applications.